At school, art projects unfortunately have to compete for time with academic ones but art activities are a powerful way to support learning and kindergarten readiness. Kids love to create and homes often have art work displayed on the fridge and sometimes, on the walls. Here are just a few of the great reasons for an art play-of-the-day.
Art is another way to communicate and to express feelings and emotions.
- As children concentrate, they are practicing focusing skills and stretching their attention spans.
- Manipulating art materials helps develop small muscles and eye-hand coordination. Just think of the work-out that hands get cutting, gluing, coloring, pressing, drawing, scrunching, pulling, and more.
- There’s all kinds of problem-solving: what to do next, where to put something, how to use materials, and, of course, what happens if…followed by fixing or cleaning up materials and messes.
- Kids get to use their imaginations as they create and explore.
Art projects can encourage talking and interacting along with social skills such as sharing and taking turns.
Materials for art can be paint, colors, glue, string, paper, playdough, glitter, buttons, popsicle sticks, mud, rocks, chalk, stickers, stamps, styrofoam trays, pasta, bottle caps, coffee filters, and almost anything.These beads on the floor might look like upside trees, but they are apparently whales spouting in the water.
Not just with anything, art can happen almost anywhere: on the sidewalk, at the table, on the floor, in the sand at the beach, at the office, or in the bathtub. Where can your child have an art experience today?